EDWARDSVILLE — It’s the kind of play that could haunt a freshman for a long time. Except Holy Cross catcher Grace Perechinsky and her teammates weren’t about to let that happen.

Perechinsky let a third strike pop out of her glove and Holy Redeemer’s Kaya Swanek raced home to tie Wednesday’s District 2 Class AA title game at a run apiece in the second inning.

It took five pitches for the Lady Crusaders to show Perechinsky they had her back, using three good swings to take the lead for good and coasting to a 5-1 win at Wilkes University, the school’s first district softball crown.

“They always do have your back,” Perechinsky said. “You have to keep your head up every time if there is an error or something. They came out to swing and we all came out to win.”

Olivia Golay ripped the first pitch off the tip of Swanek’s glove for an infield single and Gabby Giordano rocketed the next pitch to left for a base hit. Abby Anderson followed, belting a 2-0 pitch from Swanek into the gap in left-center.

“I wasn’t really thinking, ‘it’s 1-1, oh no,’” Anderson said. “I was just thinking a nice little base hit. They did it, we can do it. The first ball tipped off the glove gave us a little breathing room and it went from there.”

Holy Cross ripped nine hits, with Golay, Giordano and Perechinsky each cracking two, a continuation of the hot hitting in the district tournament that has seen the team collect 41 hits in four games.

“Our last game, we really hit the ball,” Anderson said. “We felt more confident. We might have been more relaxed.

“We were really excited for this game. On the bus ride up here, we were dancing, listening to music, we were ready. It woke our bats up for us and it was good for us.”

Winning pitcher Erika Mackie followed with a smash off Swanek, which deflected to the second baseman for an RBI groundout, and Perechinsky got some personal redemption, driving an RBI single inches from the shortstop’s reach to make it 4-1.

“Coming from that little error I made catching, I knew I had to get up and outshine that and come back with a hit to help the team out,” Perechinsky said. “That felt great after being in a slump like the whole season, it felt great to come out and do what I like to do.”

Holy Redeemer, which lost for the first time, pulled Swanek for an inning but reliever Kristen Coffay had trouble finding the plate, walking Lauren Leppo and Golay before giving up a run-scoring single to Giordano. Holy Cross could have put the game out of reach, but left the bases loaded in the fourth and fifth, and botched a bases-loaded squeeze play in the first.

They did get some timely hits. Olivia Kosin foul tipped a 2-2 pitch to stay alive before sending a two-out, RBI single to right in the second.

“I knew we needed a run because I wanted to get up on them in the beginning,” Kosin said. “I knew had to hit it hard. You just swing at it and it got somewhere down. I was pretty confident it was going to drop.”

Swanek’s single, a bunt, a wild pitch and passed ball tied the game, but that was all Mackie allowed, striking out seven despite admitting to not being her best.

“It started out really slow,” Mackie said. “As the game went on, I started to find it and I felt a little more confident.

“It feels so great, winning the first Holy Cross district championship. We’ve come a long way since I was a freshman and I’m so happy where we are now.”

Holy Cross will travel Monday to open the state playoffs at a District 4 site. Their opponent will be determined this afternoon at 4:30 at Williamsport’s Elm Park.

Contact the writer:

mmyers@timesshamrock.com

@mmyersTT on Twitter

Holy Cross Holy Redeemer

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Leppo 2b 4 1 1 0 Skrepenak c 3 0 1 0

Golay 3b 3 1 2 0 Ringsdorf cf 3 0 0 0

Giordano 1b 4 1 2 1 Kosik lf 3 0 0 0

Anderson cf 2 1 1 0 Swanek p 3 1 2 0

DeMarco ss 3 0 0 0 Mennig dp 2 0 0 0

Mackie p 3 0 0 1 Kaluzny 2b 3 0 0 0

Henshaw ph 1 0 0 0 Steinetz 3b 2 0 1 0

Perechinsky c 3 1 2 1 Lawson rf 3 0 0 0

Kranick lf 4 0 0 0 Coffay ss/p 3 0 0 0

Kosin rf 4 0 1 1 Gushka 1b 0 0 0 0

Totals 31 5 9 4 Totals 25 1 4 0

Holy Cross 013 100 0 — 5

Holy Redeemer 010 000 0 — 1

2B: Abby Anderson (HC), Grace Perechinsky (HC).

Holy Cross IP H R ER BB SO

Mackie, WP 7 4 1 0 2 7

Holy Redeemer IP H R ER BB SO

Swanek, LP 6 8 4 4 1 3

Coffay 1 1 1 1 3 0

Records: HC 17-1, HR 15-1

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